"We're not getting many offers, which we're taking very, very personally," he jokes.

Instead, look for Meyers to yuk it up on a Monday in late August, a scheduling hiccup you can blame on NBC's Sunday Night Football and MTV's Video Music Awards, airing Sunday.

Meyers' goal? "Really good jokes are the best things for me to have," says the former Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update anchor, who now hosts NBC's Late Night. "As someone who doesn't have other skills as a showman" — he neither sings nor dances — "I have to build momentum early on. I would love to walk off after the monologue and think, 'We're well on our way.'"

It's especially urgent to set an early tone because of the fatigue factor that sets in at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles for a three-hour ceremony that hands out 26 awards and quickly racks up disappointment. "I'm aware at the Emmys that the longer the night goes, the more people are sitting in their seats having not won the Emmy," Meyers says. "So they're a less receptive comedy audience."

He's a self-described fan — "I watch a ton of television" — and says there's been a lot to like this year, listing Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Fargo and True Detective, along with Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks and Recreation, led by his SNL pals Andy Samberg and Amy Poehler. "It's been a very good year for cable and multiplatform" viewing, he says. "I think you're going to hear the word Netflix a lot in the monologue." Only fitting, as the streaming service has 31 nominations and won seven awards at Saturday's Creative Arts ceremony.

Meyers has experience as a two-time host of the ESPY Awards and 2011's White House Correspondents Dinner, and hopes to echo — but not imitate — the Emmy-hosting stints of fellow late-night hosts including Jimmy Fallon and Conan O'Brien. "The goal is to do the best version of yourself," Meyers says. "They built the show around their skills, and that's what made people enjoy it."

Producer Don Mischer, helming his 14th Emmy telecast since 1993, says a successful telecast "all comes down to whether the show has some terrific wins and unexpected wins…and whether people make wonderful, moving, emotional acceptance speeches," preferably in their allotted 40 seconds. "As a producer, you have no control over either of those." But he praised Meyers as an eager, smart TV fan who can quickly respond to unpredictable moments.

Sprinkled among a few surprise taped bits will be a tribute to Robin Williams, who died last week, led by pal Billy Crystal. "We know he'd want something that reflects the fun he gave all of us," Mischer says.

Helping out with the jokes are Late Night's writing team, a few from SNL, and Poehler and Tina Fey. Since he helped write jokes for their Golden Globes stint, and earned his own Emmy nomination for the task, Meyers says, "I'm expecting at least one good joke from each of them."